Petit BonBons

Every once in a while I get a really good deal on some gorgeous teeny tiny needlepoints~ and these are it! My new line of eye candy~ Petit BonBons. Debuting for PINK Friday @ 12:01Am Friday May 1.

I Bought Three Rembrandts!!!

...Three Rembrandt needlepoints canvases ~ that is! Oh my! These three canvases are old and gorgeous. They still have the original price tag from Marshall Field & Co~ $2.95 marked down to $1.50!!! Oh I only wish I had paid a $1.50 for each~ but as luck would have it~ needlepoints get better and more valuable with time (like fine wines?). Anyway the backgrounds were unfinished, so off to the stitch artist they go~ or as one lovely lady called her ~ my indentured servant, my dear daughter, working off her college tuition.

Join Make Mine Pink For a Mother's Day Shop Hop

The Members of Make Mine Pink Step up and adopt a hope chest for Enchanted Makeovers 2009 vision project.

First let me introduce you to the non-profit organization that Make Mine Pink is joining hands with this year. I'm sure you've heard of Terry Grahl of Enchanted Makeovers? Well, for the past several years Terry has been donating her time and gathering resources to refurbish women and children's shelters. This year the 2009 Vision project is Terry's shelter makeover. We're proud to be able to help her with this worthy project.

Please visit the Enchanted Makeover site read more. http://www.enchantedmakeovers.org/

Part of Terry's plan is to have a hope chest for each girl in the shelter that would be filled with items that they will need when they move on from the shelter. We all had or knew someone that had a hope chest, and understand the significance of giving these girls something to look forward to..dream about.. hope for.

Terry had a company lined up that expressed interest in providing the hope chest for all 20 girls but unfortunately the company that was planning to donate the hope chests is no longer able to. Terry has asked MMP to help. Two hope chests have already been donated, leaving 18 for MMP to raise funds for. As I doodled 18 hope chest at 200.00 each = 3600.00 on a piece of paper, I started thinking. 18 people (only 18) could adopt/provide a hope chest for 200.00 contribution. Two Hundred dollars each didn't sound all that bad. I could do that for such a worthy cause. But I doodled some more and thought.. 36 people - 2 to a chest would be 100.00 each - that was even better! But what about teams of 3 people? That would be 67 dollars each? That would be so within many of our reach, making it easier for more to participate. I just knew we could do this if we formed teams to adopt a hope chest. Suddenly the plan for 18 hope chests and 3600.00 didn't seem out of reach at all. A plan was formed and the adopt a hope chest program began.

As of April 20, 2009 we have 11 Hope Chest Funded. We have 7 to go in the next month. If you'd like to join a team or adopt a hope chest, please email me at info@makeminepink.com. Please let us know if you will

Adopt a Hope Chest Myself: 200.00
Adopt a Hope Chest with 1 other person 100.00
Adopt a Hope Chest with 2 others 67.00

Some of you asked if the hope chest will go with each girl. No.. it will stay at the shelter offering hopes and dreams to every new resident. When one graduates, she'll take with her the contents (some of which we will contribute) and make room for a new resident to plan and dream of a time when she'll be ready to move on.

Terry has a gentleman that will be constructing each hope chest.. so time is not a luxury we have. The 2009 vision project is due to be completed by August, so we need to move fast! Monetary donations for the hope chests will be due by May 30th.

On behalf of Terry and the Enchanted Makeover Committee at Make Mine Pink..thank you for being a part of the 2009 Vision Project.

Joyce Lucas
Founder
MakeMinePink.com

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday, April 24, 2009 as we present "Lavender and Lace"

A lavender field in full bloom creates a purple and green landscape and infuses a sweet fragrance into the air. A field of flowers brought to life with the buzzing of bees, decorated with birds and butterflies drawn to its fragrant aroma. The lavender fragrance wafts gently through the air, carrying the memories of flowers, happiness, and sunny days.

Far away, a summer porch, framed by windows with white lace, is surrounded with the scent of lavender. Lavender blooming in window boxes and flower pots, or decorating a flower garden with their purple blossoms. Whether along a country road or on a city street, the lavender scent embraces all indiscriminately.

Too beautiful to remain outdoors, the fragrance of lavender easily enters our homes and daily lives. From a carefully tended flowerbed we pick a tiny bunch and place it in a hand-cut crystal bud vase, where it can brighten a corner as it sits upon a vintage lace doily. Tuck a sprig of the tiny flowers into the lace band of a broad-brimmed summer hat, carrying the beautiful fragrance with us wherever we go. Or perhaps lay it inside a dresser drawer. Tie it with a tiny scrap of lace and hang it upon a wall, set it upon a shelf.

In a drawer or as a lavender bouquet tied with apple-green organdy ribbon, edged with a dainty row of lace, the loveliness of lavender is impossible to contain. An elegant centerpiece set upon an antique table draped with a vintage lace table cloth, it's a feast for more than the eyes as the fragrant aroma declares its presence. Sunlight shining through the lacy curtains warms the room and casts delicate shadows upon the wall. Suddenly, the room seems draped in a lavender landscape and fields of lace.

Joyce Lucas,Founder

www.MakeMinePink.com

Photos provided by istock photo

Thrilla on Manila...

...okay~ it was on ivory linen stationary and it was my Nephew's college graduation announcement~ but only a Sister would buy my stamps from Zazzle.com and send one off to me! I just started a stamp collection today~ I have 1 stamp!

Thank You Debbi~ what a thrill

Reduce~ Reuse~Repurpose!

Restoring and repurposing vintage products keeps the earth clean while we decorate our homes and our lives. Suddenly following the 3 R's - reducing, reusing, and recycling - is much more than environmentally friendly. Now it's about making everyday things more beautiful. The practice of keeping it "green" can come in many colors... rose petal pink, poppy red, turquoise, pearl and yes, even green. Flea market finds and fragile memories edged with glitter, embossed with jewels, engraved, stitched and woven anew giving old treasures a new purpose.
Items lovingly restored to more than their original beauty grace shelves and are welcomed into our cozy corners. Table linens returned to their crisp, former selves discover new life draped over an antique oak table or reinvented as a charming pillow or or tote. Silver pieces, shining brighter than before, sit proudly upon a freshly painted piece of discarded furniture. China and mirrored glass salvaged from cobwebbed corners set a graceful display.
Repurposing gives items with forgotten histories new stories to tell. Rescued needlepoints are transformed into luxurious pillows, stitched with beautiful silks and trims, and shared with a friend. Postcard pictures become pendants, someone's love notes worn as special gems. Silk ribbons, velvet trims, handmade lace, are added to vintage finds. Tapestries transform into bags, repurposed into something perfect, just for you.
Even the smallest fragments of memories are unwasted. The tiniest scrap of lace from a time-ravaged heirloom can be reused, and add a "just-so" touch to a new creation. Altered art repurposes the most unlikely items from the longest forgotten closets into pieces of beauty with new intent. Whimsical works assembled from many vintage and repurposed items. Shoes trimmed with flowers, pink winged fairies, items put together with nothing more than the intent to make you smile.

Joyce Lucas,Founder

www.MakeMinePink.com

Repurposed Fabric Tote Image by: Dianne Hadaway - Mama's Pocketbook

Repurposed Sweater Chick Image by: Tedi Mercer - Petite Bookstore

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday, April 17, 2009 as we "Keep It Green."

From Weeping and Wailing.....

..to Jumpin' and Jivin'

Every Sunday I head to my workroom to clean up from the previous week's flurry of tuffetting and plan for the upcoming week's work ...and every Sunday I go on Make Mine Pink's forum and weep and wail because I need help organizing. I finally decided a I needed to get the trims in shape ~ first and foremost~ so I started my weeping and wailing in earnest~ "I want/need/covet wooden trim reels!!!" Finally some one took pity on me. Carol, from Business in The Bag fame, emailed and said " I think I can help." And help she did. Look at my lovely new trim reels~ I am jumpin' and jivin' (or just doing my happy dance)~ I love my reels ~ don't you? Carol is the consummate organizer~ but mostly she is the best at branding your business~ please visit her @ BusinessinTHEBag.com. Tell her I sent you.

This PINK Friday Event is For The Birds

Spring is here, and you don’t even need to look outside your kitchen window or open your front door to know it. Just waking up to the sweet melody of a backyard robin cheerily singing outside your window is enough to tell you that life is renewed and spring is reborn. The birds of spring have returned and the earth reawakens. Outside, in our fenced yards and open fields, brightly colored bluebirds and streaked song sparrows flit between tree branches and land carefully among the budding leaves. Singing songs of love to each other, chirping madly over jealousies. Bringing home odds and ends to build their nests - bits of bright string, broken twigs. Items insignificant to everyone else, but the stuff of life for the feathered set.
With the return of spring, we find our winged friends building homes in every unclaimed corner…. under the eaves of buildings, in riverbanks, on rocky ledges, suspended from tips of tree branches, hidden under flaps of loose bark. Even in the nest boxes we offer up with hope. Hanging baskets, mail boxes, old boots, flower pots. Any place that somehow looks like home.
No matter where we live, or what the season, avian accessories create eternal springtime in our homes too. Birds and their nests placed carefully upon our shelves, painted delicately on a wall, stitched on a delicate needlepoint. Perhaps we invite into our homes the same birds we see each spring.
Parrot green, robin’s egg blue, bright canary yellow, flamingo pink. A rainbow of color unfurls inside and out of our homes in the hopes of eternal spring.

Joyce Lucas,Founder

www.MakeMinePink.com

Image by: Sharon Wollman of C'est Chouette Home

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Friday, April 10, 2009 as we present For The Birds.

Last week I managed a little escape with my Hubby~ we headed up to Minneapolis ~ he for meetings and me for shopping. Mpls/StPaul are my old stomping grounds (in a small way~ I lived there for a short time nearly 30 years ago)~ with Audrey (my gps navigation) at my side I headed out to find as many antique stores as I could visit in 6 hours. Of course most of the ones I visited 30 years ago are long gone but I found many new ones. I love shopping antique malls~ so many vendors in one spot. At each store/mall I was feeling lucky and found at least one needlepoint~ but one mall was not giving me any hope~ I headed in the door~ turned left (I almost always go right) headed in and out of booths quickly, as I can spot a needlepoint at 10 paces and I had more stores to shop~ found the stairs to the basement (I love basements~ bargains to be had)~ headed back up and shopped the right side of the store~ not one needlepoint! What was going on? Finally I headed to the very last booth and I spied it ~ in a bassinet filled with table linens~ a needlepoint! It was a huge needlepoint and so expertly done~ I was sure it would be beyond my price range! But is was so pretty~ faded to a soft patina! I flipped the price tag and gasped~ ran as fast as my I could without knocking things over~ straight to the cashier and said, "Sell this to me quick before the vendor raises the price!" (it may have only, in fact, looked like a bargain compared to the needlepoint I had just bought down the block~ but that is another story for another day!!!!) The cashier, a kind, older Gentleman said,"Don't people realize how much work goes into this?"~ well I won't tell you the price~ (ssssssssssh~ I have to have a few secrets) but this is the finished pillow~ stunning at 10 paces.

Famous Needlepointers

Mary Queen of Scots, Marie Antoinette, Queen Elizabeth I, American football player Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier, and actress Mary Martin were all avid stitchers. And currently Jody @ Jody Deigns , Barbara and friends @ Barbara's Needlepoint, Sharon and Daughter at C'est Chouette (hey! that's me and Heidi)~ it is so nice to be in such famous company.

You can read more about Marie's stitching at my friend Gabriela's blog~ here~

This Friday~ Marie is our focus as we celebrate Marie Antionette for Make Mine Pink's PINK Friday!

Marie Antoinette was young, tall, blonde and beautiful and she set fashion trends through France and Europe. She was nicknamed "Madame Deficit" or "Queen of Debt” because the Queen spent lavishly on her dress and adornments, exceeding annually her clothing allowance (her overruns always covered by her devoted husband Louis). Her flip remark “Let them eat cake” (attributed to her, but never confirmed) was the spark that ignited the French Revolution. Today, we simply cannot get enough of “Marie”
Only 15 when she married the crown prince of France, the dauphin. France was then the most powerful nation of continental Europe, and the royal palace at Versailles the most opulent. She became Queen of France while still a teen. Her excessive fashions for high headdresses, plumes and voluminous dresses were subject to public comment, admiration and ridicule. At Versailles, the Queen also spent lavishly on her friends and on her entertainment. She held frequent gambling parties, masquerade balls and danced all night long.
To escape the formalities, boredom, and royal obligations of court, Marie-Antoinette created a private realm of pleasure for herself and her friends at the Petit Trianon, a small retreat palace on the grounds of Versailles, and Hameau, where she planted the first Anglo-Chinese garden; collected all species of antique roses; and revolutionized architecture and gardening trends. It was so much her escape that the King was reported only to have visited her there a few times.
So why do we love Marie Antoinette today? All her extravagance, her life of excess, her hairstyles that were larger than life, her reported love of pastries and champagne (some truth and some fiction as Marie was a teetotaler) all create for us a time and place where a young girl can be Queen. Marie Antoinette has become a real inspiration.

Sharon Wollman,
Director of Community Relations @MakeMinePink.com
Designer @ CestChouetteHome.com

Image by: ThePolkaDotRose.com

Please join us for shopping with a twist on Pink Friday, April 3, 2009 as we present Marie Antoinette.